Heel piece, particularly of hard rubber with celluloid coating



Nov. 27, 1956 F. sTUBBE 2,771,692

HEEL PIECE. PARTICULARLY OF HARD RUBBER WITH CELLULOID COATING FiledNov. 25, 1953 HEEL PIECE, PARTICULARLY F HARD RUBBER WITH CELLULOIDCOATING Friedrich Stiibbe, Vlotho (Weser), Germany Application November23, 1953, Serial No. 393,870

6 Claims. (Cl. 36-35) The instant invention relates to shoe heel lifts,particularly of hard rubber and having a layer of Celluloid at theattaching surface.

An object of the invention is to provide a lift of which the Celluloidlayer will not chip o or cut at its edges into the covering of cloth orleather of the heel to which the lift is attached.

A further object of the invention is to provide a lift which, whileretaining its spherical curvature imparted to it by the Celluloid layeron its attaching surface, eliminates the potential unsightliness withuse of the heel to which it is attached caused by the wearing andcutting action of the Celluloid.

A further object of the invention is to provide a soft, non-brittle,cushioning layer on the attaching surface of the Celluloid layer of shoelifts.

l' accomplish the foregoing, and other, objects by providing the shoelift having a Celluloid layer to impart a spherical curvature to thehard rubber body thereof with a soft protective, cushioning, layer overthe Celluloid or the peripheral portions of the Celluloid. The coveringlayer is preferably of a non-brittle soft material and l have found suchcovering layers of fibrous material, leather, or rubber, of particularadaptability. The covering layer over the Celluloid serves twofunctions, namely to prevent chipping of the Celluloid layer as itdevelops cracks in use, and to prevent direct contact at the peripheraledges between the sharp edge of the Celluloid layer and the lower regionof the cloth or leather covering of the heel to which the lift isattached, and thus to prevent cutting of the relatively soft material ofsuch cloth or leather. The heel per se thus remains intact while by thetime the edge of the Celluloid layer cuts the protective layer of thelift, the lift due to wear of its body will require renewal anyhow.

The invention will now be described in more detail in connection withvarious preferred embodiments and with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan View of a heel lift according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view of the heel lift seen in the direction of arrow Il ofFig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a plan View, corresponding to Fig. 1, of a heel lift, theattachment of the cushioning layer being restricted to the peripheralzone of the lift, and

Fig. 5 is a plan view corresponding to Fig. 1 and showing a heel liftwith welt-shaped cushioning layer.

Referring now to Figs. 1 to 3, the heel lift comprises a hard rubbermember 1, to which is iixed a Celluloid layer 2. A cushioning layer 3 ofsoft material, for example of fibrous material, leather, or rubber, isattached to the Celluloid layer. For the attachment of the CellutsPatent loid layer 2, the hard rubber member 1 is provided with 79 arough surface which assures improved adhesion. In

order to attach the cushioning layer 3 to the Celluloid layer 2, thelatter is softened so that it becomes sticky.

When using fibrous material for the cushioning layer, the softenedCelluloid will partly penetrate into the layer 3. if rubber is used as acushioning layer, a rougheuing of the rubber layer is to be recommended.As may be seen from Figs. 2 and 3, the heel lift presents asubstantially spherical curvature. This curvature is produced by theCelluloid layer Z, which undergoes considerable shrinkage during itssetting process, thus deforming the hard rubber member. When the heellift is attached to the heel of the shoe, the curvature is removed. Thishas the effect, that the spherical zone of the heel lift is pressedagainst the heel with an especially strong contact pressure.

T he heel piece shown in Fig. 4 is composed in the same manner as theheel lift according to Figs. 1 to 3. The only difference resides in thefact, that in the embodiment shown in Fig. 4 the cushioning layer 3,while completely covering the Celluloid layer, is afxed to the Celluloidlayer only along a peripheral zone 4. The inner limit of the peripheralattachment zone is indicated by a broken line.

The composition of vthe heel lift according to Fig. 5 also correspondsessentially to the embodiment according to Figs. 1 to 3. In this case,however, the cushioning layer S is formed as a welt, so that theCelluloid layer remains uncovered in its central area.

The manufacture of the heel lift (Figure 5) having a cushioning layer inthe form of a welt is rendered more complicated in comparison with theother embodiments, due to the fact that the cushioning welt has to beseparately cut out by punching or has to be formed in another manner,and must subsequently be attached to the Celluloid layer. Thisdisadvantage is, however, largely compensated by the fact, that thisembodiment combines in an ideal manner the desirable features formingthe object of the invention, since the Celluloid layer is covered onlyin a peripheral zone, the drying and curving process is not impeded, andthe curvature may therefore be obtained without any additional pressure.

l claim:

1. A heel lift comprising a spherically curved base body of hard rubber,a layer of Celluloid on the upper face of the body, and a thin layer ofsoft, non-brittle material on the Celluloid layer.

2. A heel lift according to claim 1 in which the thin layer ofnon-brittle material is on the peripheral regions only of the Celluloidlayer.

3. A heel lift according to claim 1 in which the thin layer ofnon-brittle mateial is a iibrous material.

4. A heel lift according to claim l in which the thin layer ofnon-brittle material is of leather.

5. A heel lift according to claim 1 in which the thin layer ofnon-brittle material is of rubber.

6. A heel lift comprising a spherically curved base of hard rubber, alayer of Celluloid on the upper face of the body, and a thin layer ofsoft, non-brittle fibrous material on the peripheral regions of theupper surface of the Celluloid layer.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,273,492 Hubbard July 23, 1918 1,282,397 Egerton Oct. 22, 19181,770,671 Rudolph July 15, 1930 2,324,889 Susskind July 20, 1943 FOREGNPATENTS 304,437 Great Britain Jan. 24, 1929

